PITTSBURG — Raley’s will close its Pittsburg store in mid-October, a move that will result in many employees who have worked their for years losing their jobs and longtime loyal customers not having a place to shop.

The closing of the store on Buchanan Road stems from a company assessment to identify stores where future sales would not be able to cover rising operating costs, Raley’s said in a statement announcing the closure. The company will also close a Bel-Air supermarket in Woodland for the same reasons. The closures will result in employee layoffs, although based on their seniority, some employees may be able to transfer to other stores.

The Raley’s Pittsburg store opened in 1979 and employs about 55 courtesy clerks, checkers and butchers. It is the only major full-service supermarket chain operating in Pittsburg.

West Sacramento-based Raley’s is a privately held company that operates 128 Raley’s, Bel Air, Nob Hill Foods and Food Source stores in Northern California and Nevada and employs about 13,000 people.

The closures come at a time when stalled labor negotiations, which began in October 2011, are set to resume on Aug. 31. Labor and management are on opposite sides on issues involving wages and benefits.

“This could very well be a shot across the bow — store closings until we get a deal,” said Mike Henneberry, communications director for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5, which is also negotiating labor contracts with Pleasanton-based Safeway and Save Mart, which owns Lucky’s.

The company contends that the key to reducing costs is to have a contract in place that will help keep operating costs manageable at a time when the retail landscape is changing as discount stores like Target, Wal-Mart and Costco sell groceries. “We’ve been very clear from the start. We need to lower our operating costs,” said Raley’s spokesman John Segale. It’s possible at least one of the stores could have been spared from closure if a union contract had been approved at the start of the year, he added.

If Raley’s is struggling financially, it needs to show its financial information to the union, Henneberry said. “The company has a choice to be transparent,” he said. “They have not done that.”

Contentious labor negotiations are one thing. Customer loyalty is another.

Closing Raley’s will be huge loss to her neighborhood and the Pittsburg community, said Tara Belleci, a 26-year-old Pittsburg resident who worked there as a courtesy clerk at the Pittsburg store while in high school.

“I’ve shopped there my whole life. My mom worked there for 15 years … It’s part of our family,” said Belleci, who met here husband in the Raley’s parking lot. “I like the employees, I like the service.”

Laura Vigil is a 52-year-old Pittsburg resident who used to work at Raley’s, including a stint in the Pittsburg store.

“It’s a loss, it’s a disappointment. It was a big part of this community,” she said. “All three of my daughters worked at Raley’s, and two at the Pittsburg Raley’s.”

“Not sure that we can do anything about this, but at least we must try and save this store as it is a viable part of our community and has been here for such a long time,” he wrote. “We as a community must quickly be proactive and get a campaign together to persuade the Corporation to consider changing their mind and leave this store open even in these trying financial times.”

If the store does shut down as planned, it will be the second time a major retailer has left Pittsburg in recent months. Best Buy closed its Pittsburg store earlier this year.

The agency’s hiring surge is only for half of the funds generated under SB 1; the other half is going to cities and counties for transportation improvements projects, which are also expected to generate new jobs.